THERE is no unemployment amongst social care graduates according to Niall McElwee, course co-ordinator at Waterford RTC. Waterford offers an ab initio diploma and a one-year add-on degree. "My entire degree class could already be employed," he says.
Social care is a relatively new area in Ireland and most social care courses grew out of child care courses.
In the mid 1980s the number of children in care fell from 2,000 to 1,000, decreasing the need for childcare workers. Since 1990, a lot of new jobs have come on stream in areas such as community child care, Early Start and neighbourhood youth projects. Increasingly, people are working in community-based projects rather than in residential care, says Noirin Hayes, head of the DIT's school of social studies.
Waterford RTC is the only college to offer an ab initio diploma. Niall McElwee explains that students apply through the CAO/CAS system and are awarded a provisional place. They must then find a placement, which the college approves, for a one-year, pre-entry period of work experience, which may or may not be paid. Students come back to the college three times during the year for seminars.
After the pro-entry year, it is a three-year college stint to obtain the diploma. Even then, students do two academic terms each year and one term in the field.
"At the end of the four years, students will have spent two years full-time in college and two years full-time in the field. That adds up to an average of 3,200 practice hours," points out McElwee.
Students do three different sets of work experience and in year three they return to the area they liked best. Also, in year three of the diploma, students do a substantial dissertation.
A one-year, add-on degree programme began in the college last September. There are 17 students on the course, with an average age of 28 years. The requirement for acceptance on to the degree is a distinction or merit in the national diploma or a pass and three years in the field. These students will graduate in June and they are the first graduates in social care who are trained to be managers, says McElwee.
The DIT offers courses in early childhood care and education and in applied social studies (social care).
Noirin Hayes says that the diploma in early childhood care and education is a relatively new departure. It is offered on a part-time basis. Graduates of this course and the certificate primarily go into the health boards, but an increasing number are finding employment in the private sector, in creches and nurseries.
Kathleen Kennedy, course co-ordinator for the social studies courses, explains that the one-year, add-on diploma is not just available to certificate graduates but also to people with a suitable degree and experience.
